Was Health Bill a ‘Government Takeover’?

PolitiFact.com, a project of the St. Petersburg Times, has selected as its “lie of the year” the phrase “A government takeover of health care.”

The phrase became a rallying cry for congressional Republicans and other foes of the Obama administration’s health-care overhaul during the fight to pass the legislation.

PolitiFact contends “government takeover” isn’t accurate because the law relies largely on the existing system of health coverage provided by employers. It notes the law doesn’t allow the government to take control of hospitals and doesn’t include the “public option,” a government-run health-insurance plan that some liberals wanted to include.

Defenders of the phrase point to government subsidies in the law for lower earners to buy insurance and new government regulations on health insurance for many businesses.

A spokesman for incoming House Speaker John Boehner said: “We believe that the job-killing ObamaCare law will result in a government takeover of health care. That’s why we have pledged to repeal it, and replace it with common-sense reforms that actually lower costs.”

PolitiFact credits the phrase to Republican consultant Frank Luntz, saying he coined it as part of an attack plan crafted in the spring of 2009.

“Takeovers are like coups,” Mr. Luntz wrote in a 28-page memo cited by PolitiFact. “They both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom.”

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